dramasealgomais
- Aug 10, 2022
- 2 min read

Binge Siblings #1: Heartstopper

These days I was watching Heartstopper on Netflix and thought: "wow, what a delightful series! Wish there were more like that!" And then I remembered that there are more productions like that for us to watch and swoon, and some are in our little world of dramaland! Thinking about these productions, I had the idea of starting a series of posts that bring similar dramas recommendations.

And so another column here at DREAM was born! We intend to bring quick recommendations based on some specific work, with no minimum or maximum number of dramas in the list. This column has as main objective to recommend dramas that we like, but that we don't feel the need for an exclusive review post.

Since the idea came from Heartstopper, here are two kdramas I recalled from dramaland while watching it:

You Make Me Dance (2021)

It tells the story of Song Shi On, a college dancer who, thrown out of his home, turns to a loan shark to survive, and Jin Hong Seok, the loan shark company employee who is responsible for making the payment collections.

This 8-episode webdrama ranging in length from 12 to 18 minutes (the last being the longest) is one of the cutest things I saw last year!

It is very cool to see the development of the characters and the change they undergo as individuals because of the relationship. Just like in Heartstopper, we have characters with different physiognomies and backgrounds, but with time together they become amazing friends and lovers for each other.

Semantic Error (2022)

Chu Sang Woo is a freshman computer science major who, tired of getting sucked in by his fellow students on group assignments, decides to remove everyone's name upon submission, causing Jang Jae Young, a super-popular Liberal Arts senior, to miss the opportunity to graduate that semester. Now having to do the work in order to graduate, Jang Jae Young sees this as an opportunity to torment his classmate.

The beloved webdrama of the beginning of the year (also with 8 episodes, running between 18 and 28 minutes), has as similarities (with Heartstopper) the school social difference (loser and popular) and the fact that the friendship starts with the obligation of a school teamwork. But Semantic Error still has many parallels with Heartstopper in some specific scenes, like the one where the characters from both shows smile (and realize they have feelings for the other boy) while looking at their pictures together on their cell phones.

Semantic Error and Heartstopper both have a good development of the discovery of their characters' sexuality. Both have scenes that show the famous "gay panic" while the characters are not understanding what they feel, which makes the stories even more real and easy to identify with.

The three productions, despite being from different countries (UK and Korea), bring the same message of discovery and love between two boys of opposite personalities and backgrounds. It is very easy to root for their relationships and even better to see the happiness on their faces when they are together. Both You Make Me Dance and Semantic Error are available on VIKI!